Children of the Corn

And we're back! I know it's been literally a matter of months since last I posted, but the sad truth of the matter is that no computer equals no blog. And just why don't I have a computer? Because I'm in Iowa City for the summer! What a wild ride it's been. But with no further ado, I present a quick recap of my life since last I posted. Toward the end of the school year, my car's transmission went kaput, so it spent some time in the shop (and got a new trannie). I got it back the very last day of finals, which was good because that same day I packed up and drove back to Wyoming. This is the first time I haven't lived in Colorado for a year and a half -- it's a little weird. I spent a little more than a week at home with my family, sleeping aplenty and getting ready for Iowa. (Side note on Iowa: I imagine that everyone who reads this will know a little about my summer plans, but just in case: I'm in Iowa city with fifteen other outstanding young people from my church in Fort Collins for a summer Infusion program. We're helping out -- and being helped by -- a church already established here called Mars Hill, and our goal this summer is to infuse this city with the love of Christ in whatever way we can.) The day before we left was my birthday, which was lots of fun. I spent the morning with my family, and after a lavish lunch took off for Fort Collins, where I fooled around with friends for the afternoon, got an awesome new eyebrow ring, got sushi for dinner and had my food payed for by a stranger, and then stayed up late at the Laural House with a bunch of people including Whitney, who left for Washington the next day and who I might not ever see again. I'm sad she left, but what was awesome was that I thought she had already left, and then she just showed up for one last huzzah -- it turned out her flight had been changed to later or something. So even the last day with her was an unexpected blessing. So that night I crashed on the couch and woke up at about 4:30 a.m. to meet up at the church and leave for Iowa City. A few funny things happened before we even left: I had gotten it into my head to bring a couple frogs with me for companionship, so I was keeping them in a Nalgene bottle that I had painstakingly turned into a little habitat. (I know what you're thinking -- Not another frog story! -- but bear with me.) I set the bottle on top of the car while I packed up the last few things. Can you guess where this is going? I definitely forgot all about and drove off. I must have gotten about half a mile or so, probably going about 25 mph, when the bottle fell off and crashed into the middle of the street, splattering water and rocks and frog food everywhere. I thought there was no way that my aquatic pals could have suvived but I pulled over and ran back to check anyway. Long story short, they both survived the crash and are now alive and well in a little tank atop my dresser. They even have started singing at night, which is very cute. One of them is missing a leg, but he lost it well before the "accident" ... I think. I also got lost on the way to the church -- the same church I've been to hundreds of times before. My sense of direction is just that whacked. So I finally called for directions and cruised in a mere ten minutes late, and shared the frog drama with everyone. It was about then that I noticed / remembered that at some point the night before when we had been hanging out at the Laural House, Ryan "Punkface" Polich had written "I love (expletive)" on my leg in highlighter and that it was still most definitely visible the next morning. Thanks a bunch, Punkface. Eventually, we set out on what should have been a twelve-hour trip, but somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, my engine exploded. Big time. We spent many an hour on the side of the road making phone calls and trying to fix it. We ended up getting ahold of our sister church in Lincoln, Nebraska, who came and towed it for free, and also put us all up that night at their college group house, which was way awesome. God came through like none other, and after enjoying the unexpected time in Lincoln, we finished the trip to Iowa City, a day late and one car short. Things have been crazy ever since, but in a good way. The church here is unreal in its generosity, fellowship, and commitment. We're in the middle of a teching series on identity that is really incredible ... maybe in the future I'll post my thoughts on it. The apartments where we live are also unbeleivably posh, and we're staying for free in exchange for 18 hours of cleaning work each per week. Every Friday, we go evangelize in the downtown area, and Saturdays we go do service projects for the community. Some highlights since we've gotten here include seeing a girl that Leslie and I shared the gospel with start to build a relationship with Christ as the result of our meeting, getting to know a whole new group of people both at Mars Hill and within our own Fort Collins group, praying outside beneath a sky filled with thunder and lightning, playing ultimate frisbee, going to a countryside bonfire last night, and playing bassoon for money in the downtown area. Lowlights include cutting my knee on a piece of broken bike reflector. That was big drama. I was alone in the apartment and it was bleeding like crazy, so I went to go get help from the people who were working on the second floor -- in the process, I tracked little bloody footprints the length of the hallway on this floor, up the stairs, and the whole length of the hallway on the second floor. My friends who had to clean it up were less than thrilled with me, I'm sure. Another highlight / lowlight was yesterday, when my friend John and I set out for Lincoln to reclaim my car, now with a new engine, from the shop where we left it. A guy from the church here offered to fly us there (Cessna 172 Skyhawk, if you're wondering), which was way fun and exciting. We had a little adventure on the way back trying to navigate Omaha and also eating at the weirdest little vegetarian hippie restauraunt. As we got closer to Iowa City, the engine was starting to act a little iffy, and as we were driving up the hill to our apartment building, it died and had to be pushed the last twenty feet of the journey. Not exactly a triumphant homecoming. This car is becoming tha bane of my existence. All in all, it's been a fun and challenging experience here so far ... I'm growing a ton and not looking forward to leaving in only a month ... I feel like we just got here. So there you have it -- maybe my next post will have more quality instead of quantity. I hope you're happy, Eddie. I'll leave y'all with this to ponder: I'm sitting here at Rae's computer and right out the window I can see a groundskeeper guy watering plants. He's leaning up on a railing in the shade with his head on his arms and the hose hanging slackly from one hand, and he's been watering the same little plant for about twenty minutes now. I'm pretty sure he's asleep.

Challenged by His Greatness,
Liz